Author Profiles

When Kristy wrote her first book she had gone from being a vet tech to becoming an entrepreneur home staging and later would become a successful three-time author. Kristy Morrison built her career from the ground up and has reaped her success in spades. Make Life Happen, the influencer’s latest self-help and business guide for the savvy business man and woman is a must-read you don’t want to miss out on if you have dreams of business success or are even thinking of becoming an entrepreneur.

Morrison says she learned her marketing skills through trial and error. “I read a lot actually.” Morrison says when asked how she learned everything she needed to know about becoming a successful business woman. During the interview she points to a gap in the publishing industry that even now is just beginning to fill. There aren’t and haven’t been until as of late a lot of books on business written by and even for women. So what does she do? She identifies a gap in the market and she fills it.

“Building my business in the past few years there wasn’t a lot of business female authors as there are now. I love Arlene Dickenson. I think more recently when it comes to female authors they are coming out more recently. I didn’t really have any to grow up with or learn through my early ages of business. I think maybe that was why I was like, I need to write a book. (She laughs). Get more women book writers out there!” And then, she did.

Her first book Competitive Edge: Transform Your Home and Maximize Profits through real world home staging cases is an informative read. Especially if you want to learn from a pro. “For Competitive Edge I worked 10-14 hours a day. I hammered out the core notes of that book in I’d say, a month.”

Morrison says Successful Systems: A Home Stagers and Decorators Guide which is her second book covers all principles based on how she built her business. It received glowing reviews and has contributed to her already impressive following on social media. “I wrote it just last year. It only took me about six months to start finish and deliver.” Morrison says.

And she has recorded the results of what efforts such as hers produce in the business world with a bit of hard work and perseverance in her latest book Make Life Happen which saw its book launch July 13th.

“When I have a goal in mind and I just keep going for it so regardless of whether someone tells me I can or can’t succeed, someone tells me I’ll never make it, someone tells me it’ll never work, someone tells me I’m crazy for thinking of trying I ask myself: Why? And I think that question Why? Why are they saying this has pushed me to seek out the answer, it means I just had to go forward.” Morrison says, so she did.

“I never thought in my life I would ever write a book ever. That was never a goal of mine.” Morrison says and when asked if she enjoys the author or entrepreneur aspect more she points out that she is a very strategic woman. “I don’t look for things that I’m passionate about to make money with I look for things that can deliver me to my passions.” Morrison says. A long term goal for Morrison is to have an animal sanctuary.

Is the ability to life a fulfilling life at our fingertips? Can everyone be as successful as Morrison? “Everyone’s different and I find, I personally feel every single person in this world can have success because success is defined by the individual first of all, so we need to define what it success to that person? Is success to you having multi millions of dollars? If so, you’re going to have to work really, really, really hard. Or is success just as simple as being happy?”

“Everyone’s goal is different and that’s why I love the women in this book Make Life Happen that I was able to feature have different backgrounds, different walks of life, different stories, different struggles and they were all able to achieve their own version of success.”

“I never thought of myself as an influencer until people started walking up to me and they’re like wow you really inspired me to do this, you really made a difference in my life.” Morrison says. Her writing also speaks for itself and it comes as no surprise that the results can be life changing once you’ve read her latest book from cover to cover.

“The best part of the book Make Life Happen for me out of the whole thing, painting the vision of hope and that you can do anything as long as you are willing to commit to the learning process, I’ll say. Everything in life is a learning process.” There is much to be learned between the pages of her three books and on her blog KristyMorrison.com

Writing query letters to editors and book to proposals to publishers is fun (okay I’ll be honest, it’s really not) but it doesn’t guarantee you will get a reply or a sale. (It also doesn’t mean you won’t). Listening to what editors suggest to you in their feedback just might help you get that contract.

Writing articles on spec is the only excuse you’ll have to take yourself on a date night alone if you have kids. (Maybe even if you don’t but you just want to get away.) #movienight #girlsnight #coffeedate #manicure #facials #finedining #needIgoon

Write a children’s books and you’ll have a break from reality. Write a non-fiction novel and you could live vicariously through those whom succeeded doing the same thing before you and went on to make the bestsellers lists.

Blog for a day you may attract readers. Blog for life and you may gain followers. Blog because you like the writing process and you could make an income if you have both.

Many of the great writers are known for their solid work ethic. How much of your free time are you dedicating to writing these days? Coming soon an interview with one of Ottawa’s classiest Influencers in the business and writing world.

This is the first podcast by and up and coming podcaster who goes by the name of Spikerite. I was privileged to be the first author he interviewed and thought he did a great job. If you’re wondering what I’ve been up to in the writing world besides my blog, check this out and by all means, sharing is kind.

Kristen McNaule’s documentary, “The Capital of Peace” was in the Short Film Corner at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. She is hopeful more opportunities will come in her screenwriting and film career. She loves making movies and watching them. “Basically every spare second I have is devoted to writing or producing or watching movies. Even my day job is working as a Production Coordinator. I can’t get enough of it.” McNaule says. Although, even though we are in the 21st century, it is difficult being a woman in the film industry and successful. Especially with so much gender inequality.

McNaule recalls several negative personal encounters where she found herself confronting sexism in the industry. From her interview responses: “At times people just obviously don’t take your work as seriously, to the point where they won’t even look at it to get a sense of the quality. By contrast, the same director will look at a man’s work instantly. That’s been challenging for me because I’ll work really hard on something and then it’s treated like it doesn’t even matter. It’s not even worth looking at.” People in the Ottawa film community who know McNaule and her work would be the first to say, it absolutely is worth investing time in her work.

A poignant point to make is that as a filmmaker it’s (being a woman) is a disadvantage in the industry. “As a screenwriter I think it is to a much lesser extent. The statistics certainly aren’t in the favour of female writers,” but, McNaule writes, “It’s a whole lot better than it is for female directors. I think there are avenues available to women in scriptwriting that help facilitate their integration. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a start.”

McNaule doesn’t recall the first book she ever read or what the title was because it was a book that was read to her by her dad when she was only 2 or 3. She references this as her first experience with the written word because she believes it had a great impact on her.

Her recollection is detail oriented and paints a vivid picture. “There was a worm in it, (the book) and a bird ate the worm I think, so I came up with the song, ‘Worms for breakfast, jumping up and down’ which I would just sing on repeat forever. Those were literally the only lyrics to the song.” McNaule recalls in her written interview responses. “I guess I liked the book because I was a big fan of jumping up and down while singing about eating worms,” she adds.

McNaule was Ottawa born and raised. She spent some time teaching English in South Korea, and a year living in Australia. She and her brother used to have a lot of creative endeavours together, “So I guess he was an influence.” She concedes in the interview. “Back in the old days we decided to start our own university where we had Jim Carey teaching facial contortions and Roberto Alomar teaching baseball. It was around 1994, so it was an enviable teaching staff for sure. I’ve been working on a zombie movie script with him and his wife in recent years.”

McNaule’s parents are really supportive of her ambitions and in her words, “have done everything they possibly can for me to pursue my dreams.”

As a high school student McNaule was really into biology and chemistry. “I used to be a competitive dancer, so I was always in physiotherapy; so I became fascinated by anatomy and physiology.” She explains. “I liked chemistry because I liked learning about all the different ways chemicals and materials can react with one another. It’s probably fitting that my all-time favourite television series is BreakingBad.” English was a subject in which she felt she did well. “I think I felt like it was too obvious to be my favourite, so I went with something more random.”

YouCan’tDoThatonTelevision was a big influence on McNaule as a child. She recalls that her dad used to teach the actors Scottish Country Dancing “as part of a team building activity,” she writes in her online interview responses. “Which was the coolest thing ever to me.”

The first screenplay she read was Pulp Fiction. “I literally can’t go a single day without making a Pulp Fiction reference. It’s such a cool movie, and the dialogue is brilliant. It’s a movie that, in theory, never should have worked. But instead it became one of the most iconic films of all time. I think there’s something very special about that.” McNaule writes.

But the movie that made her decide to write screenplays was actually GoodWillHunting.

From her interview replies: I saw it when I was 16 or 17, and I thought “this is how movies are supposed to be!” Before that I thought Titanic was the only movie that existed, so Good Will Hunting was kind of a game changer for me. My tastes became more discerning and refined after that.

If McNaule was to think of any one person’s writing that served as a role model for the type of work she wants to write she says that Quentin Tarantino is her biggest influence.

“I love the literary style of his work,” she writes. “He really pulls you into his special unique little world with his scripts and it’s exciting to read. I aspire to write that way.”

In her interview responses McNaule adds,

I wrote my first script called “Generation Override” about two years ago. I haven’t sold it, nor do I plan to. It’s a personal project that I’d like to shoot myself one day. My first script for market purposes is still in the works. It’s called “The Liberation Front”. I finished the fourth draft last night, and submitted to Blacklist for evaluation. Hopefully if you ask me about whether or not I’ve sold it by the end of this year my answer will be yes.

McNaule writes scripts and novels. She loves, as she puts it, the freedom of, ‘getting into the psyche’ more in writing literature. She writes that she also enjoys, ‘strong lyrical styles of writing with poetic elements, and she adds that in her opinion, it’s a lot easier to do that in literature.’

McNaule’s political views influence the scripts she writes. She says she uses writing and filmmaking as a means of conveying her own ideas and opinions, “Things that are important to me tend to align with a left way of thinking. I do a lot of political issue stuff, but I’m also really into dark teen angst content, like MySoCalledLife or GhostWorld. I try not to put a filter on myself because I think it steals away from the effectiveness of your message when you try to censor your own thoughts.”

McNaule likes that when she is writing screenplays her attention is focused on her, “Need to think of visual elements rather than having a character explain what they’re doing. She has to find imagery and metaphors and she really enjoys the creative process. She feels that sometimes the style of scriptwriting can get a little bogged down by rules, but she thinks that a great screenwriter can keep things moving nicely for in her words, “An entertaining read.”

“I don’t have a specific actor I feel like I need to work with,” McNaule writes when asked her thoughts about future projects. “But I do sometimes cast people for the characters I’ve created. I never have actor first, then role. The first step is always to come up with a compelling role and hopefully you can find a good actor to give life to it. I would really love to work with Dane Dehaan though.”

Other areas of the industry McNaule is involved in are Producing/ Production Management, Directing, and Editing. She’s currently running The Writers’Room – Ottawa and this will be her second time judging the upcoming Digi60 script competition and providing feedback to competitors.

McNaule had a documentary in Digi60 last year as part of a Television Broadcasting Program she graduated from this year. Her short script, Moral Coding, came 3rd at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, and was a quarterfinalist in Screencraft’s shorts competition.

McNaule says her greatest life accomplishment was directing and producing a documentary in Sierra Leone. She say it was a combination of her many accomplishments. “I had just graduated with High Honours from Political Science – International Relations. There were many points in my life where graduating from High School, let alone university, didn’t seem particularly feasible. I worked really hard for it, so my grad was pretty important to me. I also planned the whole production and it was just me and one other girl from my program who went over. I hadn’t really travelled much on my own before that, so it was an ambitious adventure. I definitely learned more from that experience than I have from any other experience of my entire life.”

Like every adventure worth reading, watching and writing about McNaule’s pursuits in her screenwriting and film career is something other people are taking notice of in the film community. Here’s hoping she gets Liberation Front from script to screen and that her success not only as a woman but as a screenwriter and filmmaker has viewers everywhere taking notice of her as both a woman in the film industry who is a worthy competitor in the film industry and as a role model to young women and people everywhere considering a career in film.

Author Catina Noble displays some of the periodicals, chap books and the book her work has been published in.

Q. Where were you born?

I was born in Kingston.

Q. How many siblings do you have? Brother or sisters?

A. My sisters are Valerie and Cori.

Q.Where did you get your education growing up?

A. I was educated in Ottawa. I went to Algonquin College and I got my social service worker diploma in 2006. At Carleton I took a BA with a major in psychology.

Q. When did you develop an interest in writing?

A. I started writing when I was five or six. I liked that it was something that was my own. It built my confidence. When your cup is running empty and someone compliments you (your work) or likes your article it makes a difference. If one person reads it (her writing) and likes it, that makes it all worth-while.

Q. What are your favourite writing genres?

A. I like writing poetry, short stories, fiction, non-fiction.

Q.Who is your audience?

A.I am currently working on a Y/A novel.

Q.Who were some of your writing inspirations?

A. I like Sylvia Plath, Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Q. Tell me about some of the work you have published. (Books or otherwise.)

A. I’ve been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul Readers Choice, the Prairie Journal, the Riverview Park Review and I stayed with them for 4-5 years. (Catina has also published several chap books such as: Pussyfoot and Clean Up in Aisle 4.)

Q. How do you deal with rejections from publishers?

A. (An anecdote):“A poem was once pulled from one of my collections so I sent it somewhere else that loved it. This just shows how subjective it (rejection) is. I used to collect my ‘rejections’.” (She says that rejections were proof she was working towards her goals.) “I stopped doing that,” she adds.

Q. Are you an indie publisher or do you prefer traditional publishing?

A. I’m what some people call a hybrid author.

Q. Have you won any awards?

A. One of my poems won third place in a writing competition there are a few others that were runner –up. I also had a poem shortlisted with the Canadian Authors Association in the poetry category in 2014.

Q.How did it feel to win an award?

A.He (the person with her) looked at me and he said, “Catina, I think you placed. I was like, “What?” So they announced the third place the second place. When they announced first place I was like, “Whaaat?” They were telling me to come up and stuff. It felt really good. Amazing experience.”

Q. What are some of the activities that interest you outside of writing?

Follow Not My Straitjacket

Kelly Buell resides in Ottawa, Ont. She loves both being a mother and a writer and finds spending quality time with her family and also dedicating time to her passion for photography rewarding. Kelly recently launched her first children's book, Loved Like Me, in December 2015 and has since completed her first thriller novella, Nuka. She is actively seeking feedback from northern publishers and members of the Inuit community concerning possible publication of the novella.
In 2014 Kelly received a post graduate certificate in Creative Writing from Humber College and she has an extensive portfolio of published works.